A cellular base station (access point) that provides a route between a cellphone and the cellular carrier via the Internet. Connecting to the home or office network, which must have a broadband Internet connection, the femtocell lets users make and receive calls indoors where cellular reception is often poor. In addition, femtocells work with standard cellphones and eliminate the need for dual-mode phones that switch between cellular and Wi-Fi service.

Sprint's AIRAVE
In 2007, Sprint introduced its AIRAVE femtocell in the U.S., which is an indoor CDMA cell tower with a range of 5,000 feet. If the user moves out of the femtocell range, the call is handed over to a regular Sprint cell tower. Supporting up to three Sprint phones at the same time, AIRAVE provides voice-only capability using VoIP; however, data can be transmitted simultaneously over Sprint's EV-DO network. Other femtocell services may include data as well as voice.